ZC's Aim for a little independence

Right. This is ridiculous. I've had this cold for two weeks now and it's really grinding me down. What can I do to get rid? I think it might have moved onto sinusitis.

Had to pop into a few shops today and bought wrapping paper and birthday cards. All def needed. If I wasn't using martins money mantra today I would also have bought:
Socks for the children
2 outfits for ds
Pjs for me
Xmas gifts for children

As I don't "need" any of them I came back with nada. Well, I spent £5 on a cheap ring but I've been meaning to do that for ages. I fiddle with my rings a lot and I don't want to lose my wedding ring!

Evening all.

Quite a low spend weekend here. Resisted the lure of a meal out today and had a homemade curry instead. Feel healthier for it and didn't spend £60 odd quid.

I've been thinking a lot about how consumer driven we are. I keep thinking I could spend the £131 a month overpaying and have nicer clothes or more spa treatments or buy the kids fancier clothes. But none of those things make me happy. I had a Boden voucher for £10 off a £30 spend today. In the past I'd have just bought something as it was a good deal but as my kids don't need anything it went in the bin.

We've had two kids parties this weekend. Neither of them were particularly overboard but they must have cost £400 when you add hall hire, fancy cake,
Face painter and bouncy castle. I'm now feeling guiltu that ds is only having grandparents for a tea party on his birthday next week. We will do one big party for reception year like we did for his sister but I just don't think It's worth it.

About to light the fire and stick a film on!

Hello all.
So it's aaaaggggeeees since I've posted on here. Things are going well. I've managed to save up £1000 to put into the mortgage. I haven't actually rang up and done it yet but it's sitting there waiting to go.

The hesitation is that at the moment we are having a bit of a tough time. Family member is ill, DS is struggling at school and work is beyond hectic. When work is this tough we'd normally have a holiday. However, we are borrowing a lot to expand at the moment so our family financial mindset is to pay that back asap and not to have holidays etc whilst that is tough. 2-3 years should be enough before we change that. So my 1k is like my little back up for if things get too much we can have a weekend away or a few meals our or pay for a gardener. We're coping at the moment without it but we'll see.

On the bright side I have got a new car! My old one died so I had to get a new one. I've gone small so I can park in the school car park - a Ford Fiesta. I LOVE it. Have spent a fortune buying rubber mats and car seat covers but think that's worth it in the long run.

How is everyone?

Hello all.
I'm going to try and get into the habit of posting here again more often.

Stressful day at work today but didn't succumb to the 3pm dominos offer text!! Made the Pinch of Nom Cuban Beef. It was delicious, easy and healthy. Bunged all the ingredients in last night and whacked in the slow cooker this morning.

Dd is doing All stars cricket tonight which she loves. £40 for 10 weeks - bargain.

Also trying to lose half a stone so I fit into all my summer clothes. Have done mfp today & kept within Calories.

Should be a cheap weekend. DD has a party, it's the school fair and I have a friends birthday tomorrow night. It's drinks at their house and I already have a bottle to bring!

Sunday will just be Church & pottering in the garden hopefully.

Have a good weekend all